DAILY DILEMMA: Would You Let Police Track Your Car?

Let me ask you something. Would you give police permission to track everywhere your car goes if it helped them catch more criminals?

Flock cameras are automated license plate readers. They photograph your vehicle, capture the plate, and record when and where it was seen. Police use that information to find stolen cars, missing people, robbery crews, and violent suspects. Put enough sightings together, and somebody can build a road map of your movements.

These cameras are everywhere. About 120,000 Flock devices serve roughly 7,000 law enforcement agencies nationwide. Harris County manages 20 Flock networks with about 480 cameras. League City police say their system helped with 305 investigations and recovered approximately $1 million in stolen property since July 2025.

That sounds good until somebody uses the system for something besides fighting crime.

Harris County suspended three deputies’ access while reviewing questionable searches. Officers in Deer Park, Baytown, Pasadena, and Fort Bend County have faced allegations, investigations, or discipline involving Flock. One Fort Bend lieutenant reportedly searched one person’s license plate 41 times and another person’s plate 148 times.

Then there is Florida. Haines City police officer Christopher Goodson was arrested after allegedly searching for his estranged wife’s vehicle 717 times over 21 months. Investigators said she was not involved in a criminal case. Goodson allegedly used reasons including drugs, theft, and traffic offenses to make some of those searches appear official.

Now here is the part that may have you checking your own license plate.

Go to HaveIBeenFlocked.com. Enter your license plate number and state to search available public audit logs. The independent website says its database contains more than 4.6 million license plate records found across roughly 242 million Flock searches.

Understand the fine print. The database is incomplete and is not updated in real time. Some records may not appear for months or even years. Finding your plate does not automatically mean police were investigating or following you. The website also says it does not save or log the license plate number you enter.

Flock cameras can help catch criminals and recover stolen property. They can also give the wrong person a powerful tool for tracking innocent people.

Check out my Daily Dilemmas weekday afternoons on Majic 102.1.